Portable fire-escape.



Owihfl mozo A. A. ABBOT.

PORTABLE FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILED Aue. 20. 19:4. nENEwsD mw 30.1915.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l.

AfL/Mimi Fatented Nov. 16, 1915.

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A. A. ABBOT.

PORTABLE FIRE ESCAPE.

APPucATxoN FILED Aue. 20. 19m. RENEWED JULY so. 1915.

Patented Nov. 16, 1915.,

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A. A. ABBOT.

PORTABLE FIRE ESCAPE.

APPLICATION FILE-D AUG. 20` 1914- RENEWED JULY A30` 1915. l Llw. Patented Nov. 16, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- ANDREWA. ABBOT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

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Application fuea'augustzo, 1914, serial No. 857,734. Renewed July so, 1915. serial no'. 42,5527.

To all whom z'tmag/ Concern? Be it known that l, ANDREW A. ABBOT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and btate of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Portable'l? ire- Escapes, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention` relates to new and'usefu improvements in fire escapes ofthe portable type and has for its primary object to' provide an extremely effective device compris` ing a vehicle having a frame structure theren on to be raised along side of a building and inclined forwardly so that the occupants of the building may by getting` into the car carried upon the top of the structure be low-` ered in a safe and expeditious manner to the ground. y l

An important object of my invention 1s to `provide a fire escape of the character described that is mounted upon a vehicle so as to be readily moved from place to place, said fire escape being mounted upon a body that is pivoted centrally to the vehicle body and arranged to be moved at right angles to the vehicle body so as to prevent tilting and provide a more stable support for the escape.

Another important object of my inven tion'is to provide a lirel escape consisting of a lazy-tong structure that is to be elevated and inclined and is provided with a car to accommodate the persons to be rescued, said' car being mounted upon the top of the structure and so arranged as to assume an'. approximately horizontal position at'all times to insurey a safe descent.

Another objectief importance is to provide novel means for elevating the lazyetong structure, tilting and lowering it, that is operable from a vehicle or base of the lire escape, is simple as to construction and easy to operate. Y Another important Objectis to provide means to limit the elevating and tilting ac tion of the lazy-tong structure so as to in sure stability and a safe descent. The above and additional objects are accomplished by such'means as are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, described in thel following specification and then more particularly pointed out as claimed. v

With reference to the drawings, wherein I have illustrated the preferred embodiment ofmy invention as it is reduced to practice, and throughout the several views of which similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts: f

FigureV l is a side elevation of my improved device as it would appear when in assembled position, FigjQ is a top plan View showing the supporting body turned at right angles to the vehicle body and the lazy-tono' structure broken away andin sec tion, F ig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the lazvtong structure in extended and inclinedor tilted position, Fig. 4 is a. side elevation showing the lazy-tong strucA ture partly broken away and as it would appear when in upright extended position, F ig. 5 is a side elevation showing the lazy-tong structure broken away and in position as it would appear when inclined or tilted, Fie'. 6 is a transverse sectional view showing the construction of the supporting carriage, and Fig. 7 is a detail transverse sectional View showing lthedetail construction of the clutch mechanism.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference the numeral l` designates as an entirety a vehicle comprising a body 2 supported by wheels 3 in the usual manner.

`Mounted on the body 2 is a platform 4 that is pivoted centrally to the body and provided at each end with an upstanding supporting plate 5. The platform 4 is designed to be swung or turned similarly to a al turn table upon the vehicle'to provide for stability of the device as will be later morev fully described.

Mounted longitudinally of the'platform 4 are two pairs of rods 6 and 7 The pair 6 being arranged in slightly spaced relation to the platform `4 with the ends ofeach rod secured in the plates 5. llach rod of the pair V6 is disposed adjacent to one longitudinal edge of the platform 4. The upper pair 'T is arranged similarly to the one 6 but in superposed relation thereto.

Mounted upon thev platform 4 is alazytong Vstructure designated 8 as an entirety,V carrying at its upper eXtremitya horizontally disposedv platform' 9 to accommodate the 'persons to beV saved. The lazyftong structure comprises a plurality of' pairs of pivoted bars l0. The bars 10 are pivoted to each other at their ends and in pairs centrally of their ends. One pair of the lowermostbars 10 is pivoted adjacent the ends of a transverse .bar11 secured Vtothe rods of the pair `7 at vcertain'y ends thereof. @The other pair of lowermost bars 10 is pivoted' to" a' transverse rod l2 .thatis operativelyconnected with the elevating lowering and t1ltying mechanism designated 13 as an entirety.

The mechanismpfor elevating, tilting and if loweringthe structure Svconsists of t-wo Vlinks V14 Vand lthatarepivoted at their ends to the transverse .bar 12 and tothe carriages 16and 17 slidably mounted upon the rods 6 vand'7 respectively. The'carriages 16 and 17 eachcompriseia transverse ,plate 18 having' collars 19 on the ends thereof that slide upon the rods 6 and7. Mounted one above the vother and longitudinally of the platform 4 are rotatable and screw threaded. operating shafts '20v and"'21that areextended through screwthreadedopenings formed in the plate 18er'y the carriages ltandl 17.1e-

spectively. YThe shafts20 and 21'are jour-V naled suitably,v in .one of the pla-tes 5 carried. 0n the platform :4. Gears 22 and 23 are ymounted on the shafts 2O and 21. The gear 22.is;-lrey'ed upon the outerend ofy the shaft 20, saidlshaft 2O.being1extended through the plate' in whichit is j ournaled suiliciently to enable the mounting of the gear 22 samemanner for a" greater distance than the. one 2O and said extended portion is :flattened uponits upper face as at 24. (The gear y23 isslidable upon` the flattened extended portion 24 of the shaft 21. Carried by the gear 23is asleeve 25, provided with anlat face 26 to coperate withv thefat face 24 on the ex- `tended portion Yof the. sliaft'21. VIt will be e graspedand turned to rotate theshaft 21.`

rea'dilyseen that thegear 22 may be moved into and out of meshing engagement with the Ygear 22. `A crank `handle 27 is `operatively connected with v the extended end of the Shaft21.v f Y jTo prevent the structure 8 being elevated too far lprovide stop pins 28..mounted on theplatform 4 and designed to engage the plate 1S of the lower vcarriage 16 as shown in Fig. 4 infthe drawings -when the lazy-tong structure 8 is inits upright extended vposition."` Y, .Q

To elevate the structure V8 from` the positionr as shown in Fig. 1, the crank 17 is Whenthe shaft .W21 rotates the gears 22 and 23. mesh .causing rotation of the lower shaft V20 and subsequently the slidingmovementof the carriages 16 and 17. As thevcarriages 167and717slide on the rods lfthe .bars 10 comprising the structure 8 .are moved from expanded 4jtocontraeted position that is, tow-ard eachother at their .lower ends causing the structure to be raised upwardly. The pins28 in engaging the plate 18 of the lower carriage 16 limit the sli-.ding movement of ,the carriage and Vsubsequently the upward :movement .of the fstructure 8.` Themechanismassumes thevpositionas shown/in Fig. 4 when the structure '8 is in its upright extended position.

'lToincli-ne'the structure 8 as shown in Figs. 3 and 5 so that the platform 9 will be i positioned 'within or adjacent to the window Aor side of a building, the gear 23 is moved towardthe'outer end of the shaft 21, out of vmeshing engagement with the. gear 22 and the shaft 21 rotated. "The shaft is rotated in a clockwise directioncausing they pair of bars 10 of the structure-.8, thatare lowermost and `toward thefront end of the vehicle toibe lifted upwardly with relation to the rods 'i' on the" platform 4. .As these bars are lifted upwardly, the'structure S is inclined rearwardly to the position shown .in Figs. 3 and 5 in the drawings.

v,1n order to move the structure into vertical extended position so that it may be lowered to a..position showninrFig. 1 in thev drawings, the shaft 2 1 is rotated in a counter clockwise .direction until. the lower end of the structure 6, each.compris1ng one of the lowermost pairsof the bars 10 thereof' able. in longitudinal openings formed .in the platform 4. `The bar 29 is designed to be pulled outwardly from one end of the -platform 4 as shown in Fig. 2 in the drawings so that a number of persons mayvgraspthc same to steadythe structure when vin ioperative position.

With reference to thefforegoingr ldescription and accompanying drawings it will be readily seen that I have provided a fsiinple and inexpensive devieethat will Aprove lof great service to re departments and enable a safe and expeditious descent of persons from burning.l buildings. It willbe plainly seenl that my improved Vdevice maybe used toelevate a hose so that water. may loe-played upona burning building, in this instancey the irementaking a place inthe platform .4 at the top of the lazy-tong structure .8.

A.In practice, I have found Vthat the form :of

-my invention, illustrated in theudxrawings and. referred to in theabove .descriptiomas the Vpreferred embodiment, is the `most. eiiicient andpractical; yet'realizingy thatthe conditions concurrent with, the adoptionfnof my device will. necessarily vary, I desire. -to

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tion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, when required, without sacrificing any of the? advantages of my invention as set forth.

What is claimed is Y Lift fire escape comprising a support, a lazy-tong structure mounted on said support and designed to be elevated in a verticalplane and then tilted forwardly, longitudinal rods mounted on said support, carriages slidable upon said rods, said lazy-tong structure comprising. a plurality of pivoted bars arranged in pairs, the bars of one of the lowermost pairsbeing pivoted to said support, links connecting the lower ends of the bars of the otherlowermost pair with the carriages, screw threaded shafts operatively connected with the carriages and rotatably joui-naled in the support, gear Wheels mounted on the shafts and meshing with each other, and one of said gear wheelsbeing slidable and to be moved out of meshing engagement with the other gear Wheel.

2. A fire escape comprising avsupport, a plurality of rods arranged horizontally and longitudinally of the support, parallel and in spaced relation to each other in pairs, carriages slidable on the rods, screw threaded shafts rotatably journaled in the support and extending through the carriages to facilitate the sliding thereof upon the rotation of the shafts, a stationary transverse bar arranged at one end of the support, a lazy-tong structure comprising a plurality of pairs of pivoted bars, the lower ends of one of the lowermost pairs of bars being pivotally connected with said transverse bar, the lower ends of the other bars of the loW- ermost pair of the lazy-tong structure being operatively-connected with the carriages, a transverse bar connecting the lower ends of said last named pair, pairs of links pivoted at their ends to the carriages and said transverse bar last named, gear wheels mounted non said rotatable shaft, one of said gear wheels being arranged to move out of meshing engagement with the other whereby the structure may be inclined forwardly after being elevated.

3. A fire escape comprising a support, a platform pivoted on the support, a lazy-tong structure operatively connected with the platform, a U-shaped bar slidable Within the platform at one end thereof, and means to elevate and tilt the lazy-tong structure.

4l. In a lire escape the combination with a support of a lazy-tong structure mounted on said support, a plurality of horizontallydisposed rods extending longitudinally of the support, carriages slidable on the rods, links pivotally connected with the carriages and certain `lower extremities of the lazy-tong structure, the other lower' extremities of the lazy-tong'structure being pivoted at a fixed point on said support, and means interchangeably operable through moving both links to extend the lazy tongs and operable to iix one link and move the other to tilt the Vlazy tongs. l 5. In a iire escape, a support, a lazy .tong

structure vmounted'on said support, carriages slidably carried by the Support, links pivotally connected `with the carriages and certain lower extremities of the lazy-tong structure, the other lower extremities of the lazytong structure being pivoted at a fixed point on said support, a platform carried by said lazy-tong structure and to be elevated thereby, and means interchangeably operable through moving both links to extend the lazy-tongs and operable to fix one link and move the other to tilt the lazy-tongs.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' ANDREl/V A. ABBOT. Witnesses:

` JOSEPH H. MGNALLY,

ARTUR G. MoVEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

